What percentage of the public actually carry a knife?

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J. Doyle said:
I always carry a main folder and small Swiss army knife. Always.
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I changed jobs this summer... Imagine my horror during orientation, when I saw an image of a SAK in the section about "contraband". (IIRC, there was already a picture of a knife; so I interpreted it as not even one of these.
Jsega51 said:
I live in NY
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I don't remember if I knew that - me, too.
Jsega51 said:
I wear my belt knives into the stores and gas stations and have never heard a single word about them
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I've only had one "issue", and that was hearing a kid say "Whoa! Is that a knife?" then "Why does he have a knife". As I looked over, I saw a young father steering the child away. At the time, I read the look as unease; in retrospect, I'm not sure. The boy was on one of those kid leashes; so maybe the father was just exasperated.
 
Wow thank you already for all the answers! Amazing community.

I just realize that some may not quite have understood my question (because it was not very well written - sorry for that, my English is not that good). In our Community of knifenuts I bet that we all carry our folder or fixed with joy, but what I wonder is, how many people throughout the general population actually carry a knife?

Some answers mention to regularly see pocket clips or lanyards hanging out of other's pockets, that's interesting, because here in Europe I have not yet seen these, even though knives are permitted. Here in Germany I would guess that only maybe 5% or so regularly carry a knife and then it would probably be a Victorinox SAK.
 
I always carry 2 if not 3 or 4 knives. Different knives for different tasks.
*edit* I see now your actual intended question. I’d venture in my state of Iowa 75% of folks carry a knife of some sort.
 
I’ve been carrying some kind of pocket knife for the last 57 years. Very rarely did I not have a knife. I grew up on a farm and ranch and a knife was a necessity on a daily basis.

In my younger days it was usually a medium sized stockman Old Timer then around age 24 I started carrying a modern type knife at work. It had a pocket clip and single stainless blade, I don’t remember what brand but it was a decent knife for that time. But a lot of times I still carried a stockman along with it just as backup and for the different types of cutting chores I had.

I still carry that combination of a stockman and a larger modern knife at work and it has served me well for many years.

On days off I change up to whatever suits me depending on what I’m doing but still carry two knives lol.
 
Asking about people on this forum will give you a high percentage answer!
Regarding people in general, I would say it’s around 50% where I live in rural Texas (USA) and that might be low. However, when I lived in Houston the amount of people carrying was much lower and often there was a fear of knives.
 
Here in rural NC, I'd say that most men carry a pocket knife of some sort, especially if they work in the trades.

I personally have been carrying a knife daily since my grandfather gave me my first ones at age six or seven.
 
I grew up in a time when A man carries a knife.
-Yes, I think less of men who don't.
I've carried one daily since I was eight.....Even in school. At the time.


.....The bigger the city, the bigger the knife.
 
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I would wager to guess that it's probably not as many as you would think. I also think we tend to self sort, bird of a feather flocking together.

While I can't know what people have deep in their pockets, I'm the curious type who looks for pocket clips, belt sheathes, and gun butts when out and about.

I would guess in the 2020s, most people who carry a knife probably have something with a pocket clip. In Indiana in a largeish city (for the state), I would guess that maybe 20% of my customers have some sort of pocket clip showing. Most of my customers are white collar, though. However I do see this 20% spread evenly across the economic and political spectrum of those that I do business with, so it shows that pocket knives in the area are still about being common sense tools. That is to say, people around here aren't scared of them. I will say that most of them seem to be entry level "good enough" low end stuff, but most folks carrying a knife aren't knife knuts.

I generally have a few on me daily. However, when I pair down and leave anything around last ditch AD at home, I find a good folder and a multi tool indispensable. The folder does the fine work of cutting, scoring, and sharpening a pencil. The MT is for turning the odd screw or making a minor repair to a piece of equipment. If I'm just going to the do the Sunday shopping, the folder alone will do, but I never leave the house without something.
 
NW Montana, USA.
If a guy doesn’t have some form of knife on him, he’s the exception.
Lots of ladies have ‘em also.

I chaperoned a day-hike for a young women’s youth group a few summers ago, 12-17 year old young ladies.
The majority had a fixed blade or a folder on ‘em for the hike.

I can’t understand why a person wouldn’t have a readily accessible tool to cut things and do stuff.

I spent some time in So. Cal. I always had a folder on me. It saw frequent burrito duty. One of the assisted knive I had at the time hit hard, with a loud “thwack.” It would occasionally elicit a raised eyebrow when deployed at the burrito shop, usually followed by a brief look of envy (then apathy) as I divided a two-handed monster into a manageable morsel.
 
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You know, I posted about the people I know or knew when I was coming up and what I felt was probably correct but as I think more about it, I am somewhat out of touch with the younger generation, tv, and much of what’s going on in this wacky world we live in so I’m not sure what “the norm” is. Generation to generation may be a big change. I suspect that what I see here in a farm/ranch area of the country is not representative of the whole.
My grandsons have knives that I gave them but I’m certain that they can’t carry them to school or any activities so it would be limited to home or hunting, fishing and camping. Things have changed significantly from the days of kids (and everyone else) carrying pocket knives and no one looking twice.
 
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